Joshua Tree & Route 66

Since we have started planning our trip Daria has her own ‘must-see’ – Route 66. She even wanted to hitchhike ON it, but I told her out of it. Seriously, it might has been a little hard and risky, because there were probably not many cars around. Luckily we managed to get there sooner than we all thought…

On our way to Las Vegas the scenery has changed much. No more big cities, ocean view or forest, just a desert. We decided to deviate from the route to stop by “Joshua Tree National Park”. You can drive the whole thing by a car. The Joshua tree exists only in several parts of North America. We got there by night and we were absolutely fascinated about all those different, weird looking and in the same time beautiful trees. We found a place to park a car and went to sleep to wake up right before dawn.

About 4 o’clock we started to look for a perfect spot for sunrise. It took us a while and in the end we stopped anywhere just to see IT. I pulled out my tripod and was ready just to enjoy it. I felt like I was on different planet, colors where so intensive and in one moment mountains in background started to shine on orange! This sunrise really rocked.

After this amazing golden hour the cloudless day has come. We were worried that it would be too hot, but the temperature didn’t even reach 90°F. We could hike around the park easily. We managed to drive the whole place admiring its unusual nature.

The park is full of different joshua trees, rocks and plants. One part of the park is covered with jumping Cholla cactuses. They called it jumping because even if you barely touch it attacks you with many little and sharp spines. I actually experienced it on my foot… It wasn’t easy to get it out because it just stacked into my shoe. My dear friends weren’t very supportive because this danger attack was too funny to them.

After spending a half of very nice day in the park (except the cactus incident…) we continued our drive to LV. The temperature went higher and higher. When we opened the window in the car it felt like turning on the heating. I still don’t know why we didn’t plan earlier to drive the old highway which was just around the corner, but luckily it magically magnetized us. Daria looked at GPS and said “Wait a minute… aren’t we… isn’t that… ROUTE 66?!” Her face at this point was priceless. Right after that a big sign emerged. Yes, it really was route 66.

The road was almost empty and very patchy. Our car was literally jumping on asphalt hills. On our way we saw some Route 66 bars and gas stations. Suddenly the route just finished. We had to come back on the main road which took us to legendary Las Vegas…